Pottery painted female dancers

[Pottery painted female dancers]

Pottery painted female dancers, Tang Dynasty, 21 cm high
The dance and music of the Tang Dynasty are closely combined, especially the music and dance introduced from Central Asia, West Asia and Northwest China’s ethnic minority areas, which are popular and fashionable. Not only will there be singing and dancing performances at the festival celebrations, but also the rich and noble families should bring their music when they go out for outings. Music and dance play an important role in people’s life
The female dancer wore a lapel half-sleeved shirt, a long skirt, a waist, and a slight side of her head. The arms are raised and lowered, the legs are extended and flexed, the waist is twisted and dancing. From the perspective of clothing and dancing posture, it belongs to the “soft dance” within the scope of traditional Han dance
With the female dancers, there are also five musical figurines. Among them, there are three upright pieces, respectively holding pipa, panpipe and sheng; The seated person has 2 pieces, respectively holding cymbals and waist drums. The identity is imitated from that of standing and sitting in the historical records. The simultaneous appearance of the standing and sitting part of the figurines is still rare in the archaeology of the Tang Dynasty, which shows that this group of musical and dance figurines has a high level. It also shows that soft dance still occupies a corresponding position in high-level music and dance performances. From the perspective of sculpture techniques and styles, it is close to the tomb figurines of the Cen family in Mengjin, Luoyang, and the place of excavation should be in the area of Mangshan Mountain, Luoyang